- She used a connecting door in her room to get into another one and mingled with VIPs at the hotel.
- The Deputy President William Ruto was among those present.
Businesswoman Mary Wambui Mungai, who is at the centre of a Sh2.2 billion tax evasion case, on Wednesday night escaped a police dragnet at Weston Hotel, where she has been residing.
There was drama at the hotel when police raided the facility in search of the woman and her co-accused only to realise she had left minutes earlier, leaving their personal belongings in their executive room.
She apparently used a connecting door in her room to get into another one and mingled with VIPs who had been there.
Police believe she and her co-accused chose the room intentionally fearing or knowing there might be a raid and hence would be able to escape.
“They used a door connecting two adjacent rooms to escape after the officers broke in knowing they were there. This was well thought out,” said a senior official aware of the raid.
After sneaking into the next room, the two were allegedly driven out of the hotel.
It is not clear whose car was used as a search staged did not bear any fruit, police and Kenya Revenue Authority said.
A host of dignitaries from Garissa county were at the same facility for a fundraiser. The Deputy President William Ruto was among those present.
It is not clear if the DP was informed about the drama as police searched for the two on strength of a warrant they had.
The officers barricaded the entrance of the hotel for a while searching all exiting vehicles in vain. They kept vigil there until Thursday morning. No arrest had been made.
The team that has been looking for the two said they realised they had been trying to change their locations since Monday.
The hotel did not comment on the issue.
KRA said in a statement that Wambui, alongside Purity Njoki Mungai, who are both directors of Purma Holdings Limited, escaped from their hotel rooms a few minutes before the police and KRA officers arrived to arrest them.
“Upon searching the hotel premises, KRA officers and the police found personal belongings of the two including cash, bank cards and car keys, a clear indication that the two were residing at the hotel,” KRA said in the statement.
A warrant of arrest was issued on the two on December 8, 2021 after the directors failed to appear before Anti-Corruption Court chief magistrate Felix Kombo to answer eight counts of knowingly and unlawfully omitting taxes due in the income tax returns submitted to the Commissioner for Domestic Taxes for the period between 2014 and 2016.
The court was informed that the two failed to honour summons to appear before KRA on December 3, 2021 to inform them of the charges against them and instead sent their accountant.
Through lawyer Sylvanus Osoro, Wambui informed the court that she was admitted to hospital from November 29, 2021.
However, no medical records or disclosure of illness or hospitalisation have so far been made.
The court agreed with the prosecution that the accused were buying time instead of confronting the charges, which the court noted are of great public interest and grave.
The case will be mentioned on December 14 or the earliest the accused will be arrested.
The taxman is pursuing Wambui over alleged unpaid taxes for the billions of shillings earned from government tenders for supplying boots, uniforms and cereals to the military, among other state departments.
The taxman says Wambui and her two daughters earned billions of shillings between 2014 and 2019 through their company Purma Holdings Ltd.
KRA says it has been conducting investigations on tax obligations by the company for the past two years.
They are to be charged with at least seven charges. In the first charge, they are accused of omitting from returns an amount which should have been included contrary to section 97(a) as read with section 104(3) of the Tax Procedures Act No. 29 of 2015.
They are also to be charged with failure to submit a tax return by the due date contrary to section 94(1) as read with section 104(1) of the Tax Procedures Act No. 29 of 2015 and failure to pay tax by the due date contrary.
Wambui was a close ally of Jubilee administration for years. If found guilty for the offence of omission, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh10 million or double the tax evaded whichever is higher or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.
For the offences of submit a tax return and failure to pay tax, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh1 million and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.
-Edited by SKanyara